Oprah Previews the Return of 'Favorite Things'

By

Although Oprah's long-running talk show has come to an end, her popular "Favorite Things" holiday segment lives on.

Beginning in 2002, Oprah launched her annual "Favorite Things" segment to highlight noteworthy products that she believed would make good holiday gifts. More than a year after her talk show ended, Oprah, alongside close friend Gayle King, wanted "Favorite Things" to live on.

"'Oprah's Favorite Things' is a trademark of what she does on her show, and so now that 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' is no longer on-air the way we know it, we did not want to let 'Favorite Things' go and neither did she," King said.


RELATED: Oprah Reveals Her 2012 'Favorite Things'

The result was a collaboration between O, The Oprah Magazine and Oprah's TV network, OWN, that will air as a two-hour special this weekend. Oprah revealed this year's "Favorite Things" will be dedicated to military wives.

"I was inspired to do this by Michelle Obama when she was on the show in 2011," she said. "Michelle Obama said, 'Only one percent of Americans actually know somebody in the military,' and I was like, 'Gee, that makes me a part of that 99 percent. I don't know anybody in the military.'"

Oprah revealed that following her inspirational meeting with Mrs. Obama, she began anonymously sending monthly gifts to military families in Illinois, where her talk show was once hosted, as well as California, where she currently resides.


VIDEO: Oprah Reveals Her Best Advice

The highlight of "Favorite Things" is that beyond disseminating her list to viewers Oprah gives some of the products to her audience, which has generated overjoyed reactions that have been spoofed over the years. Oprah maintains that her general goal is to use her towering platform to positively affect others.

"What inspires me is the message that we created with this magazine in 2000 to help people live a better life, to help people be inspired, to help people have objects [and] tools that would help them to be who they were meant to be," she said. "That's really my calling on the planet: to use myself, use my life, and to take different platforms to do that."

Check out the full video to hear Oprah and Gayle preview this year's "Favorite Things," which Oprah claims is "one of the best ones, ever." The special airs this Sunday beginning at 8 p.m. on OWN.